The SEC Championship Game: We Meet Again

Both Alabama and Florida have heated annual rivalries with several teams, from the Gators' annual bouts with Tennessee, Georgia and Florida State to Alabama's yearly meetings with Tennessee and Auburn. (If there's one thing that both teams can agree on, it's that they hate Tennessee.) But an argument can be made that the most important rivalry in the SEC since the league split into two divisions in 1992 is the one that will be reprised this weekend in Atlanta: Alabama vs. Florida.

In the 19 SEC Championship Games counting Saturday's, the Gators and the Crimson Tide have met seven times. That is far and away the most showdowns for the SEC title in the game's history; no other combination of teams has played there more than twice. The two are also the only pair of teams to play in consecutive games -- and they've done it twice (1992-94, 2008-09).

Florida is 4-2 in the matchups between the Tide and the Gators, with those two losses marking the only times Florida has been defeated in the championship game. But Alabama has the overall scoring advantage, 128-125. The games have generally not been close.

Of course, the scores obscure some of the notable moments like the fourth-quarter Florida comeback in last year's game. But only once has the game been decided by less than seven points and only twice by less than 10. Aside from that, the outcomes have largely been lopsided.

National title implications? This will be the fourth time in the history of the SEC title game that the winner of this matchup will play for the championship. Those teams are so far 3-0, with crystal footballs going to the victor in 1992, 1996 and 2008.